Political Odysseus of chief Madu Ndigba(Belief in totems by African leaders) An Allegory Part 22

Onwa, otherwise known as Chief Dike, a young millionaire of about 36, was in the oil business. He had just won the bid for blocks of oil well. As the duo tried to end the conversation, Sarah strolled into the room; she immediately went straight to the chief’s office and tapped the door thrice. There was no clear cut acknowledgement of the tap. Rather, a young lady pushed the door forcefully and this nearly threw down Sarah.

Sarah was enraged at the sight of this lady and resented her action. She gathered her breath and hollered, ‘what have I done to you? ‘You wretched daughter of a bitch’. The ugly scene created now attracted attention of those in and around the office, as well as Nwadima and Ngozi and others discussing with Chief. ‘Be civil, now’, she intoned…. ‘Abi’, haven’t you come for the same mission as me? One of the ladies, insinuated that if the chief is not interested in you, why do you force yourself on him? She queried. Besides, why do you take it out on Sarah? One of the ladies pretended to be the arbiter and while calming the other intruder proposed a meeting of all interested candidates. The proposal appeared to be naïve suggestion and also unusual way of determining who wins the heart of the chief.

Another problem with the suggestion is, ‘what will be the criteria used to determine the winner? Will the criteria necessarily be acceptable to the chief? Is chief Ndigba obliged to accept the decision? There seemed, to be a stalemate, as there was ominous silence after the proposal was made. Without any formal arrangement, all interested parties sat down in what were supposed to be a roundtable. It was round table because no one claimed to be superior to the other. As soon as the convener raised her eyes, everyone in the room giggled until, the convener continued to make her points.

First, she drew the attention of her friends, on the need to maintain absolute discretion, as the Chief would be embarrassed by the presence of all ‘his women’ in one spot. Second, she also recalled the miserable position all of them have been placed, a condition which compelled them to boldly seek to have an affair with a married man because of pecuniary gains’.

One of them, yawned as she challenged everyone thus, ’if any of you here who claim to be interested in the Chief, would describe a unique spot on the chiefs body; I would then withdraw from my lust. The proposal seemed to be plausible as two others nodded in approval.
Each of them, one after another, described what they experienced. They were no two descriptions that tallied. Perhaps some of them were imagined, until Nwadima – Sisi Zululand’ described the crocodile tattoo.